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Furniture Makeovers

furniture feature friday | favorites & link party

Good evening, everyone!  My mom, Kriste, and I worked super hard today to try to get the rest of my pieces painted for Lucketts.  We got a ton done and, at three weeks out, I’m further along than I’ve ever been.  I still have a lot of upholstery, slipcovers, sewing, etc. to do and I would like to find more smalls/accessories, but I feel like we’re nearing the finish line.  Tomorrow, the three of us are going to do a bit of shopping to hopefully find a good haul of well-priced smalls.  Wish us luck! Tonight, though, it’s all about your furniture finds and makeovers.  Here are my favorites from last week… I love this primitive cupboard shared by Larissa of Prodigal Pieces.  Really, the entire room is amazing, down to the crystal chandelier, plank and beam ceiling and all of the finishing touches. As I’m about to make some slipcovers of my

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Before and Afters

blue checks & yellow toile

I must say that I am really enjoying playing with pattern on the chairs I’ve been upholstering.  For the past few years, I’ve been stuck in the grain sack/hemp sheet/nubby linen rut.  While I still love those and you’ll see them a lot in my work, I was ready to break out and stretch my design legs.  I have lots of pretty fabrics in my stash, mostly remnants I’ve picked up through the years.  Remnants are perfect for the French chairs I’ve been working on, because they don’t require a lot of yardage. Part of the fun of putting together a booth for Lucketts is designing things that go together…a little snapshot of a potential room.  They may not be purchased together, but they create a nice vignette in a booth and give customers an idea of how each piece can look in a home setting.  So, after finishing the

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Before and Afters

“Swedish” secretary desk

Sometimes I need to spend a little time with a piece before I know how I want to “mustard-ize” it.  Other times, inspiration hits me immediately and I can’t wait to get to work on it.  My furniture does not get the first-come-first-serve treatment.  So, even with a bunch of other pieces that have been “in line” longer, I set to work on this desk that I had just acquired from Craig’s List. Just the night before I got it, I had been trolling Pinterest and came across some beautiful antique Swedish desks that were painting in various shades of bluish greens.  So, when I saw this secretary in person, I knew it wanted to look like one of those Swedish desks. So, I painted it in a custom-mixed color – one part Kitchen Scale to two parts Shutter Gray, both from the MMSMP line.  When finished with Hemp Oil,

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Before and Afters

the china cabinet on my doorstep

Usually I have to hunt for my furniture, but lately a few pieces have been finding me.  That was the case with this china cabinet… An antique store owner who I’ve shopped from a few times stopped by my studio a few weeks ago.  He knocked on the door.  “I have something in the truck that I think you might like.”  He showed me the china cabinet, quoted a price.  I nodded and he carried it in for me.  How easy was that?! Now, I have to do something with this china cabinet…  After painting several of them over the years, I’ve sworn that I would never buy another one to paint.  They are a royal pain in the rear to work on.  The tight interiors, the fretwork up against the glass…all, a royal pain in the rear. So, I put it out of the way against a wall and

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furniture feature friday | favorites & link party

Good evening, all!  Unfortunately, I’m feeling a bit under the weather tonight.  I’m not sure if it’s just a headache or if I’m finally succumbing to the illness that my boys had last weekend.  Either way, I’m hitting the sack early tonight and didn’t have a chance to pick favorites from last week.  I look forward to browsing through all of the amazing links posted here this week, though.  Kriste and I have a ton of furniture in the studio to work on and I always love all of the inspiration offered here!  Enjoy the party! Here are the rules for our furniture get-together… 1.) Your post has to be about furniture. Please, please, please…just furniture. If you find your link has been deleted, it’s not because I’m mean, it’s because your post was not about furniture. You can share makeovers, awesome finds, favorite pieces, furniture arrangements, or even pieces

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furniture feature friday | favorites & link party

Good evening, all!  Unfortunately, I’m feeling a bit under the weather tonight.  I’m not sure if it’s just a headache or if I’m finally succumbing to the illness that my boys had last weekend.  Either way, I’m hitting the sack early tonight and didn’t have a chance to pick favorites from last week.  I look forward to browsing through all of the amazing links posted here this week, though.  Kriste and I have a ton of furniture in the studio to work on and I always love all of the inspiration offered here!  Enjoy the party! Here are the rules for our furniture get-together… 1.) Your post has to be about furniture. Please, please, please…just furniture. If you find your link has been deleted, it’s not because I’m mean, it’s because your post was not about furniture. You can share makeovers, awesome finds, favorite pieces, furniture arrangements, or even pieces

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All Things Home

swapping chairs

Sooo…I’ve been know to rearrange, trade and swap furniture in my house.  I’ve always done that, but it’s so much more tempting (and easier) when I have a steady stream of awesome furniture coming into my possession as I’m getting ready for an upcoming antique market.  Sometimes I need to love a piece for a while before I send it off into the world.  There are other times when I trip across something I’ve been looking for and I know right away that it’s coming to my house. That was the case with these chairs… I have been looking for end chairs for my dining room for a while…over a year, I think.  The current end chairs are almost exactly like the side chairs and it looked a little “one-note.”  I felt like some really great end chairs would add a lot more interest to the space.  It’s the kind of

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furniture feature friday | favorites & link party

I had this post scheduled to go live last Thursday and I didn’t realize until a few days ago that it never posted!  Something funky happened with WordPress, but it was a holiday weekend anyway, so it worked out well.    Since last week was really busy, I asked Kriste to pick favorites.  (It’s also nice to get a fresh perspective, since I always gravitate towards the same things!)  Here she is… Hello, hello, lovely people! It’s Kriste back again for another FFF pick. I was so refreshed with all the springtime looks this week. I love how fresh and clean everything looked! There were so many pretties this week. Marian and I have been swimming through oceans of furniture in the studio over the past couple of weeks. It’s so nice to sit down and browse all the beautiful projects you have been working on. When the studio get

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I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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